Zinc oxide nanoparticles: Genotoxicity, interactions with UV-light and cell-transforming potential

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 264; pp. 420 - 429
• Main Authors: Demir, Eşref, Akça, Hakan, Kaya, Bülent, Burgucu, Durmuş, Tokgün, Onur, Turna, Fatma, Aksakal, Sezgin, Vales, Gerard, Creus, Amadeu, Marcos, Ricard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 15-01-2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - chemically induced; Comet Assay; Exact sciences and technology; Genotoxicity; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Mice; Micronucleus assay; Micronucleus Tests; Nanoparticles - radiation effects; Nanoparticles - toxicity; NIH 3T3 Cells; Pollution; Soft-agar assay; Ultraviolet Rays; UV-light interaction; Zinc Oxide - radiation effects; Zinc Oxide - toxicity; ZnO nanoparticles; Soft-agar assay; ZnO nanoparticles; Micronucleus assay; Comet assay; Genotoxicity; UV-light interaction; Human; Induction; Nanoparticle; Ultrafine particle; In vitro; Ultraviolet radiation; Aerosols; Database; Air pollution
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.11.043

•Genotoxicity of ZnO NPs has been shown in mammalian cells.•ZnO NPs has been able to induce cell transformation.•An antagonist interaction between ZnO NPs and UVB-light has been demonstrated.•Genotoxic/carcinogenic effects differ between ZnO NPs and the ionic forms.
The in vitro genotoxic and the soft agar anchorage independent cell transformation ability of zinc oxide nanoparticles (NPs) and its bulky forms have been evaluated in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) and in mouse embryonic fibroblast (NIH/3T3) cells, either alone or in combination with UVB-light. The comet assay, with and without the use of FPG and Endo III enzymes, the micronucleus assay and the soft-agar colony assay were used. For the comet assay a statistically significant induction of DNA damage, with and without the enzymes, were observed up of 100μg/mL. ZnO NPs were able to increase significantly the frequency of micronuclei, and similar results were observed in the cell transformation assay where such NPs were able to induce cell-anchorage independent growth. These effects were observed at doses up 100μg/mL. Although UVB-light was able to induce genotoxic damage and cell-anchorage growth, a significant antagonist interaction effect was observed in combination with ZnO NPs. These in vitro results, obtained with the selected cell lines, contribute to increase our genotoxicity database on the ZnO NPs effects as well as to open the discussion about their risk in photo-protection sun screens.